At Cryptic Studios, we take the security of your account very seriously. To further advance our security measures, we are happy to announce that we are rolling out a new security feature to be included in all Cryptic Studios games. Account Guard is a new feature which is intended to help secure your Star Trek Online and/or Champions Online account from those who may try to maliciously access it. You’ve already seen the first part of this new feature when we rolled it out for the Champions Online and Star Trek Online billing portals.

This feature will be enabled on Live and Holodeck this Thursday, July 5th, and we’ll be watching the forums closely for your feedback regarding this feature. Once this feature is rolled out, you will need to authorize your computer to access the Champions Online and Star Trek Online Games using your account information – you will be prompted to do this when you log into the game.

We’ve provided a FAQ to answer some of the questions we know you’ll have regarding this feature – please note that we’ve updated it to answer some of the questions that have come up recently, so we hope you’ll take another look if you’ve read it in the past.

My email I used to sign up with is fake so when this came out I was instantly blocked from playing sto ( which I just recently bought lifetime for mind you) so I just fully bought the game and I cant freakin play it! I agree with Kobayashlmaru, they should have posted how to turn it on if you wanted it on, not just turn it on without consulting with the people who it is affecting.

My hotmaill account that I used to register for the STO game was hacked and blocked before the launch of the account gaurd. I first contacted PWE customer support on July 6th 2012, gave them all my information and screen shots. I tried to change my email address on my PWE account page, but was unable to do so. It is now July 16th and the issue is not resolved yet. PWE customer support is not adequate, and now I have filed a complaint with the Better Business Bureau. I am almost ready to give up and move on to some other game. Needless to say this has not been a good experience for me.

I know that your programmers are probably pretty happy with the level of service they provided with this PoS security measure.
Here is a little story how it worked for me, when you implemented this PoS I could not log in, because it did not send me an email. As it turned out, i recived the email with the one time use crap of a code after an hour, since I just wanted to log in for few minutes to check something an hour later was too late.
Then few days later i could log in, without the code, it just did not ask me for it. Thought that there was a fix to the PoS security measure you provided, but no. Today it again asks me for the one time crap code, but I do not recive it via the email. I really do not care why does it arrive an hour after I want to play, I do not give a shit whos fault it is that the email arrives too late.
If i cant play when I want to play, i just delete the product.

obviously some of you guys actually got that e-mail, i did not, try since 3 days to login and never ever got an e-mail with that code, things are not good if they work for you, only if they work for everyone, this is just another piece of crappy programming and guess what customer support has not answered either, what a shocker.

I think this is a GREAT idea just for the simple fact that there are alot of low life SOB's out there that want to make your life miserable and any way they can they will even if its stealing game data----- So I say THANK YOU STO for the added security and for looking out for us that wants to play the game rest assured and worry free ------ HATS OFF

GREAT THIS NEW SYSTEM ARE NOT JUST ANOYING IT HAS MADE IT IMPOSSIBLE FOR ME TO LOG IN AS HOTMAIL GOT THE WORST IDEA OF HOW TO UNBLOCK YOUR ACOUNTS -.- AND I CANT CHANGE MY HOTMAIL ITHER ON STO BECAUSE I GOTA LOG ON TO THE BLOCKED FIRST -.- this is just stupid ither hotmail gota change their system or star trek online needs new ways to change what hotmail your acount is bound to.

Having recently returned to STO after a long absence (despite being a lifetimer), I just ran into this. Frankly, PWE doesn't seem to have taken into account that 'IP address' and 'computer' are not the same thing. Some ISPs, such as mine, use a dynamic IP system. This means your IP address can change, even if you're using the same computer in the same physical location connecting over the same physical hardware. As far as Account Guard is concerned, a different IP address means a 'new client' or 'new browser'. This, combined with the emails containing these 'single use codes' being delayed or simply not arriving, makes this security feature more annoying than secure for me. As such, it is now off on my account. PWE would have been better served by going the same route as WoW or SWTOR, where you get either a keyfob or app for Ipods/smartphones which generates a code there and then every time you log in.

@livingredshirt - I did the exact same thing. If you (the developers) want people to have faith in your security measures, you'll have to step them up. They're as secure as a paper fence against wet dogs right now.

Your decision to force opt-in everyone was a bad idea. If Account Guard could truly improve security, it would make sense. But this sadly it does not, it is just purely annoying.
This feature is promotes a false sense of security since it doesn't actually prevent malicious use or identity theft (actually it made it easier).

Actually I just read the FAQ and even I'm confused. Worked fine for me but the Opt Out instructions are unclear. Looking at the My Account page, there is nothing labeled "Billing Portal" as mentioned in the FAQ. Nor is there any link labeled "Main Menu" nor is there any link labeled "Manage Account Guard". There's billing links on the My Account page but nothing there discussing the Account Guard.
The FAQ is unclear.

I say add a Text-ing support to receive the access code via text message.
or make an app available for android and IPhone users that is synced up to the server and make a random code like Google authentication.